My 1st Visit Home in 2.5 Years

For this winter holiday, I finally got enough time off to go home.
Ever since I came to start my 2nd round of public school but in South Gyeongsang Province this time (late June 2017), I had not gone home. Why? Simply because there are not enough vacation days for me to take to go back. We used to get 23 vacation days a year. Now we have 26. I need 4 days just to fly to and from the States. Korean teachers mostly get the entire vacation period off (the whole month of August in the summer, and all of January and February--minus the 2 random weeks of classes--in the winter.

My winter holiday was December 25 (yeap, Christmas Day) - January 14. That's almost 3 whole weeks away from Korea.

My flight from Gimhae International Airport (just outside Busan) left at 7:20 am. With public transportation, my only option was a \70,000 won-taxi ride. No, thank you. I stayed in a hotel 5 minutes away from the airport with a free shuttle bus for hotel customers. On Christmas Eve, in the afternoon, I started my journey home by going to the Air Sky Hotel.

Night Before My Journey Home

Just off SeoBusan Yutongjigu Station
(the station before Gimhae International Airport)

This was a nice hotel. Click here for more details.

The outdoor terrace that looks at the metro station.

Morning of My Journey Home--Gimhae

Breakfast = Breakfast bowl from Dunkin Donuts
Egg whites, spinach, potatoes, and a little bit of cheese.

From my Japan Airlines window seat, I see Korean Airlines.
Sorry, but Japan Airlines was cheaper.

Japanese mountains

What a view, eh?

Layover in Tokyo Narita

Interesting lounges

Snack 1: Yakisoba (?) noodles in a hotdog bun

Snack 2: Dunno the Japanese name,
so I'll call it "3-ga gimbap" (Korean).
White rice, salmon, and seaweed

Snack 3: Egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches in 1 package

Layover in Dallas, Texas

In my experience of flying into a major American airport and needing to transfer on, I'd say that Dallas has impressed me. The process was much more streamlined, digital, and efficient. Fly internationally and return to the States via Dallas to see for yourself, if you haven't already. Much better experience than flying into any airport in or near New York, LA, or San Fran.

WHAT?! This Latino channel has its own store?!

I didn't realize how much I missed Auntie Anne's pretzels.
I also forgot how big the portion sizes are.

Final airport: Jacksonville, Florida

My parents and my boyfriend were waiting for me at arrivals. My parents took my luggage, and my boyfriend took me out to eat. Before, eating out on Christmas was unheard-of. Now, that's changing little by little.

My 1st meal back in the States? Biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and hash browns at Denny's.

I'm such a Southerner.

It's great to be back home.

That meal had no idea how I was gonna massacre it.

Friend's Wedding and Autumn Foliage in Daejeon

A good friend of mine got married on 16. November 2019 in Daejeon. She appears in this post and this post. There was no question if I was going or not. The problem was along the lines of how long would it take me to get there.

Taking the KTX train.
I woke up quite early to catch this train.
I also really missed my boyfriend.

It took me a bit, but I found the church.

I must say, this was my first Korean wedding NOT in a wedding hall.

Bride and myself

A general view of the inside of the church

Lovely floral and lighting choices

The lit aisle

Beautiful natural light and nature

I tried to take some pictures and videos during the ceremony, but I don't feel confident enough to share them here. Not just for everyone's privacy, but also for my insecurities in how they (videos and photos) turned out.

Good thing I wasn't a photographer or camera(wo)man for this ceremony.

My message in the guest book

After the ceremony, the photoshoot takes over (almost as long as the actual ceremony)

The day after, I went to a park as I waited for the time for me to catch my train.

What nice colors!

Introduction

So red!

These vibrant colors reminded me of New England autumns.

An attempt at being "artsy."

The location of the photoshoot.

Daejeon Government Complex, right at that park
(or perhaps I should type: the park, right at the government complex)

Amber ahead of the sky

Jinhae: Jehwangsan Park (제황산공원)

I explored a park I wanted to go to in Jinhae for a while now: Jehwangsan Park (제황산공원)
The first time I knew about it was when I went on the hop-on, hop-off Changwon City Bus Tour. This park was one of the stops. Just looking at the hill and that it had a monorail up, it intrigued me.

Several months later, I finally did go. (Let's cut to the chase, right?)

I took a ride up the park's monorail.
It costs 2,000 Won per adult (about $1.68 USD). Click here for more info.

Map of the top of the hill

That's one way to erase the fingerprints left behind by Japan.

If you know me, then you know where I want to go.

That tower felt like it had more than 4 levels of observatories.

Below are a few snapshots of the views one can see up there:

I like

It is a popular date spot. You'll really see it later.

Another set of stairs, away from Jinhae Tower.

Date spot alert!

I wonder how this looks at night.

Yes, I walked down these stairs. I just wanted to get the feel.
No idea who that woman at the bottom was.

Cars drive up here too. Parking is nearby.

See why you should learn Korean when in Korea?
When there's no wifi nor data, how will you know where to go?

Walking on these trails felt like much-needed therapy.

Seeing the monorail car pass by as I walk down the stairs.

I stopped to watch the monorail pass by. 

I rode it up, now I watch it going up as I'm climbing down the stairs.

These are "the stairs."

Jinhae Station.
This one is not used. At least, it was very much closed when I took this picture.

This small city (actually, it officially is part of Changwon) is charming and has other intriguing things and places to offer. Here is a link to a post I published over 2 years ago of another place I visited in Jinhae: The Changwon Marine Park.

Is Ulaanbaatar a Korean Colony?

Ok, that is a bit of a stretch, but then again . . . is it?

Why would I even think such a thought? Could there be a sizeable Korean presence in Ulaanbaatar? Did I see Korean products, signage, and even buses throughout the capital? Did all these Korean things stand out to me, seeing I had lived in Korea for almost 6 years by now?

Indeed.

Allow me to demonstrate my evidence below . . .

1. Seoul Street

"Seoul Street" in the middle of Ulaanbaatar.
Complete with the ying-yang, Korean-style pagoda, and Hanguel

See the street sign? There it is.
You can also see the State Department Store in the background.

2. "Umoney," the public transportation card

Korea has the "Tmoney" public transport card.
Ulaanbaatar has the "Umoney" public transport card.

I saw public buses that were just like those used in Korea--especially Seoul. However, I can see those buses were 20 or so years old. I found this article from 5 years ago describing the new way to pay for riding the bus: the "Umoney" card.

3. Korean signage

This is 1 example of many Korean businesses in the capital of Mongolia.

Not only did I see Korean signage, but I also saw Korean businesses there, like Tom n Toms, CU convenience store, karaokes, restaurants, skin care shops, and so many more. Here's an interesting Wikipedia article that briefly explains what happened.

Ok, I saw Loving Hut in Korea, but do you notice the dentist a floor above?
Can you see the Hanguel for "dentist" (치과 의사)?

4. Education and other

During my first 2 years, I was employed by an academy chain called "SDA Language Institute." Yes, it was run by my church. Does it reflect the church's values? Not anymore. Not for a long time. However, that's a story I won't get into right now. I do want to say that a branch opened in Ulaanbaatar several years ago. I went to see if I could find it and to see if it followed the trend of what happened in Korea.

I was sad to see that indeed it did.

I am glad, however, that the local members can have fellowship together in their language. You don't know how precious that is until you don't have it anymore.

I wandered through the building, looking for any foreigners who could explain if there was an English service anywhere in the city. I also wanted to see how the classrooms looked like.

A classroom with the Hanguel alphabet on the right, and the Cyrillic alphabet on the left.

I'm sad to see the institute is no longer a missionary post, but I am glad it still offers services to the community. Below is a pamphlet I captured in a picture.

Even though this is in Mongolian, they let you know Korea participates in this too.

So, is Ulaanbaatar a Korean colony? Not really. Is there a noticeable Korean presence? Perhaps. Is this a good or bad thing? I don't think it's so black-and-white. There are surely positives and negatives, but I leave that for you to research and decide for yourself.


I will officially end my blog series of memories in Mongolia with a slideshow of my pictures and one video I took during my long weekend in Ulaanbaatar. I seriously need to return.

You seriously need to go and check out this country for yourself.